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By ROBERT LAURIE - The specter of Al Qaeda emerges in the wake of Egypt and Libya attacks

Earlier today, Bill Nelson, a Florida Democrat and member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, was briefed on the embassy attacks in Egypt and Libya. After the meeting, he raised the possibility that the two incidents were not only related, but also bear the possibility of connections to international terror.

According to Nelson, the anti-American uprisings “have the markings of revenge by al Qaeda."

Specifically, he thinks they may be retribution for Monday’s drone-strike killing of Al Qaeda’s global propaganda mastermind, Abu Yahya al-Libi. Just hours before Tuesday’s chaos began, Ayman al-Zawahiri issued a message via Youtube, which Nelson thinks may have triggered the rioting.

In a statement, Nelson said “In light of Monday night's Internet-video statement by the head of al Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahiri, who urged Libyans to attack Americans to avenge the recent death of al-Libi, I am asking my colleagues on the Senate intelligence committee to immediately investigate what role al Qaeda or its affiliates may have played in the attacks in Libya and Egypt, and to urge appropriate action."

Nelson described the violence at the Libyan embassy, which took the lives of four Americans, a “well-planned, commando-style, raid.”

According to Fox News, officials are now searching for solid evidence that could prove the killings were directly related to Al Qaeda and are also exploring the possibility that they were not "organic" but were intended to mark the 9/11 anniversary.